Bungee cords provide a convenient tool for tying down, or maintaining the positioning of, an article in a given location. For instance, articles being transported in a truck bed are subject to a variety of forces, such as wind and road conditions, which necessitate that the articles be tightly secured to the truck to prevent unwanted movement, damage, or loss of the articles. Bungee cords are made of various stretchable materials or rubber and have opposite ends with hook-shaped fasteners so that they can be readily hooked or unhooked around articles of any shape. The stretchable, elastic cords are commercially available in many sizes, such as 12, 18, 24, 30, 36 and 42 inches measured in an unstretched, or non-tensioned, condition.
Since bungee cords, or like stretchable, elastic cords, provide such a convenient, adaptable, inexpensive and simple-to-use tool, it is common for a user of bungee cords to possess a large number of cords in many different sizes, or lengths. Typically, the cords are located in a pile or stored and carried in a five gallon bucket, or the like. Thus, the bungee cords are stored in a tangled, unorganized manner which makes it difficult to quickly locate and untangle a particular size of bungee cord sought. In addition, generally the cords are packaged and sold in relatively bulky plastic bags. This type of packaging makes it difficult for a consumer to visually inspect the number, type and condition of the cords, and provides a bulky package which is difficult to display in an aesthetic and efficient manner.
The use of frame-like holders for other types of cords, such as, electrical extension cords, strings of lights, fishing lines, clotheslines, kite strings, chalk lines, yarn and fence wire are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,208 issued to Schooley discloses a relatively flat rack having a pair of spaced-apart cross arms around which a single, relatively long, non-stretchable cord having a complex structure, such as Christmas tree lights, can be wound and stored. Other Examples include: U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,012 issued to Hough which discloses a holder for an electric extension cord; U.S. Pat. No. 1,540,244 issued to Bergland which discloses a reel for clothesline; U.S. Pat. No. 1,297,959 issued to Young which discloses a reel for chalk line; and U.S. Pat. No. 579,056 issued to Gibbons et al. which discloses a reel for fence wire.
While many of the known holders, or reels, are suited for use with relatively long, non-stretchable cords which are readily capable of being repeatedly wound around opposite ends of a frame-like structure, they may not be useful for efficiently holding relatively short, stretchable, elastic cords having hook-shaped fasteners at opposite ends thereof. For purposes of this application, the term bungee cord includes any elongate cord which is longitudinally stretchable and elastic and has any type of fasteners at opposite ends thereof.
Although various ones of the aforementioned holders or reels may be satisfactory for their intended purposes, there is a need for a carrier particularly designed to provide a means of holding, organizing, storing and/or packaging bungee cords in an efficient manner. The carrier should be capable of holding a plurality of bungee cords of a variety of lengths, or sizes, in an untangled manner which permits ready visual location of a particular size of bungee cord. In addition, since the elastic nature of bungee cords can create a potential hazard when a bungee cord under tension accidently becomes unhooked, the carrier should provide a safe means of holding bungee cords in a manner which prevents injury or damage from accidently unhooked cords. Finally, the carrier should be inexpensive to manufacture and have a slim profile which enables the cords to be efficiently stored in a minimum of space.